Talking clock

ABSTRACT

A TOY CLOCK WITH A PHONOGRAPH WHICH STATES THE TIME AT WHICH THE HANDS ARE SET. THE CLOCK INCLUDES A RECORD WITH TWENTY-FOUR NEARLY CONCENTRIC GROOVES, TWELVE OF THEM DEFINING THE HOUR AND TWELVE DEFINING THE CLOSET FIVE MINUTE INTERVAL AFTER THE HOUT GROOVE AND THE OTHER A MINUTE GROOVE, AND THE HOUR AND MINUTE SAYINGS ARE PLAYED IN SUCCESSION.

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TALKING CLOCK 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 25.-, 1969 wt/wams d//ulr A.If/Mk ilaria n. #dalla .m 1.0/2 w a M W TALKING CLOCK 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Filed Feb. 25. 1969 q af Qn. 7/ Sii@ E mh. l Il *i N" NM United StatesPatent O 3,581,410 TALKING CLOCK Willard L. Zeigner, Fountain Valley,Andrew M. H olland, Venice, and Donald J. Maurer, Torrance, Cahf.,assiguors to Mattel, Inc., Hawthorne, Calif.

Filed Feb. 25, 1969, Ser. No. 802,064 Int. Cl. G09b 19/12 U.S. Cl. 35-394 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toy clock with a phonograph whichstates the time at which the hands are set. The clock includes a recordwith twenty-four nearly concentric grooves, twelve of them dening thehour and twelve defining the closest iive minute interval after thehour. Two tone arms are provided, one engaging an hour groove and theother a minute groove, and the hour and minute sayings are played insuccession.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates to toys, and more particularly to a toy clock which states thetime.

Description of the prior art OBJECTS A=ND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Anobject of the present invention is to provide a simple clock which playsa recording stating the time at which its hands are set.

Another object is to provide a device for instructing children to telltime.

Still another object is to provide a toy clock which is of maximumentertainment and educational value.

In accordance with the present invention, a toy clock is provided with aphonograph device that plays a saying, or voice recording, indicatingthe time at which the hands are set. The phonograph device includes manyrecord tracks, some dening the hour and the others deiining the minutesafter the hour. Two tone arms are provided for engaging the recordtracks, one engaging an hour-indicat ing track and the other engaging aminute-indicating track. The modulated or sound-producing portions ofthe tracks are arranged so that the hour indication sounds iirst, andthe minute indication plays immediately thereafter to provide a completevoiced time indication.

The novel features of the invention are set forth 'with particularity inthe appended claims. The invention will be best understood from thefollowing description when read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF 'TI-IE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevation viewwith parts broken away, of a talking clock constructed in accordancewith the invention;

FIG. 1A is a plan view of a portion of the clock of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2. is a sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of FIG. 1;

ice

FIG. 3 is a partial front elevation view with parts broken away, of thetalking clock of FIG. l; and

FIG. 4 is a partial front elevation view with parts broken away, of thetalking clock of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF T-HE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 illustrates a talkingclock comprising a case 10 `with a transparent circular front coverportion 12, a clock face 14 displayed behind the transparent coverportion, and a pair of clock hands 16 and 18 over the face thatindicates the time. A knob 20 which protrudes from the center of theclock face can be turned by a child to move the clock hands 16, 18 sothat any time setting can be displayed. A child can rotate a start knob22 to cause the talking clock to play voice recordings that state thetime. For example, the clock may state My hands read 8:35.

While an ordinary clock generally has a face which indicates only twelvehour markings, the illustrated talking clock includes an inner ringportion 24 with twelve hour markings and also an outer ring portion 26with twelve numbered minute markings. The numbered minute markings areprovided to aid in teaching the child that the hour is broken up intosixty minutes. In order to reduce complexity, the illustrated talkingclock has provisions for indicating time intervals spaced by iiveminutes. Cam apparatus is provided to urge the minute hand toward theclosest live-minute indication if the minute hand is set between thelive minute intervals.

The clock comprises phonograph apparatus including a record 28 withtwenty-four grooves. Twelve of the grooves define hour sayings with anintroduction, such as My hands read eight. The other twelve groovesdeline minute sayings such as Thirty-five. The grooves have only a veryslight spiral, so they are nearly circular and nearly concentric, andare substantially radially spaced from each other. Except for a shortlead-in section at the beginning of each groove, the grooves extendalmost 360 around the record. Separate playback mechanisms 30 and 32 areprovided for playing the hour and minute sayings, respectively. Theminute playback mechanism 32 comprises a tone arm 34 4with a needle 36which can engage any one of the twelve minute-indicating grooves. Therecord grooves are modulated in depth, and the needle modulations airetransmitted through a speaker piston 38 to a speaker cone 40' foracoustical amplification. In a similar manner, the hour playbackmechanism 30 has a tone arm 42 with a needle 44 that engages an hourgroove, the needle oscillations being transmitted by a speaker piston 39and amplified by another speaker cone 46.

For a particular setting of the clock hands, the minute and hour needlesengage particular record grooves, and the record 128 makes onerevolution. During the first twothirds of the record revolution, thehour needle 44 is engaged with a modulated hour groove portion toreproduce the hour saying. During this period, the min-utc tone arm isengaged with an unmodulated portion of the minute groove and it producessubstantially no sound (actually only a low level of noise). During thelast third of the record revolution, the minute tone arm is engaged witha modulated portion of the minute groove which reproduces the minutesaying while the hour groove is unmodulated and therefore nominallysilent. The mechanism is driven by a motor 48 which is energized by anordinary dry cell 50. It is constructed so that after the start knob 2.2is rotated to start the mechanism, a turntable 52 on which `the recordand other mechanisms are mounted makes one complete revolution and thenstops.

A better understanding of the details of the mechanism can be had byconsidering the chain of events occurring in the operation of the devicefor a given setting. When the start knob 22 is rotated clockwise byapproximately a quarter-turn, a cam 54 fixed to the knob presses againsta start/stop lever '6. The lever 56 is mounted at a bearing area 58 in amanner which allows pivoting and slight rocking about the pivot point.The force of cam 54 on lever lS6 causes the lever to pivot clockwise. Acontact block 60, also shown in FIG. lA, has a ramp 62 which forces thelever 56 to tilt until it is behind the block, as the lever pivotsclockwise. When the lever `56 reaches the end of the contact block ramp62, a lip portion 57 thereof falls into a notch 64, so it cannot pivotback under the urging of a return spring 90. The lip portion alsopresses an electrical contact 66 of a switch 92 against a second contact68 thereof. These contacts are in series with the electrical cell 50 andmotor 48, and their closing causes the motor 48 to be energized and toturn the turntable 52.

The motor 48 has an output shaft 70 that drives a friction drive Wheel72. The drive wheel 72 has a small diameter portion 74 that is infrictional engagement with a rim portion SZR of the turntable to driveit. Prior to starting the toy, the speaker pistons 38, 39 are held awayfrom the tone arms 34, 42 by a lift arm 78. As soon as the turntablebegins to rotate, a lift arm cam 76 on the turntable is moved out ofengagement with the lift arm 78. This allows two end portions 80 and 82of the lift arm to move away from the speaker pistons 38, 39 and allowthem to bear against the tone arms 34, 42. Prior to starting the toy,when the lift arm raises the speaker pistons away from the tone arm 34,42, the tone arms can be moved radially over the record grooves forre-positioning into different grooves as the clock hands are turned.After several degrees of turntable rotation, when the lift arm cam 76disengages from the arm, the speaker pistons 38 and 39 are free to movedown and bear against the needles 36 and 44 to transmit the recordedsounds to the speaker cones.

The record rotates in a clockwise direction indicated by arrow 84 forone revolution. As mentioned above, during the first approximatelytwo-thirds of the revolution the hour playback mechanism 30 announcesthe hour and during the last approximately one-third revolution theminute playback mechanism 32 announces the minute. At the end of therevolution, a stopping cam 86 fixed to the back of the turntable engagesa member 88 on the start/stop lever 56, causing lever S6 to tiltbackward. The lever 56 is therefore made to disengage from the slot 64of the contact block `60. When thus disengaged, the lever 56 rotatescounterclockwise under the force of a return spring 90. The lever K56rotates counterclockwise and disengages from the switch 92, therebydeenergizing the motor. The turntable coasts a small distance but isstopped in a predetermined position, as shown in FIG. 3, when aprotrusion 96 on the start/stop lever enters an indented portion 94 ofthe rim portion 52S and abuts a holding portion 98 on the turntable rim.Thus, rotation of the start knob 22 causes the turntable to make onecomplete revolution and stop at the same position at which it started,to prepare for the playing of another time saying.

After the turntable has stopped, a child can turn the knob 20 to changethe time setting indicated by the clock hands 16, 18. Rotation of theknob 20 also automatically causes movement of the tone arms 34, 42,which results in movement of the minute and hour needles to the recordgrooves with sayings corresponding to the time indicated by the clockhands. As shown in FIG. 3, the knob is fixed to a shaft 100 which isfixed to the minute hand 18 and which is also fixed to a minute cam 102.A minute cam follower 104 on the tone arm 34 engages the minute cam1012. A minute spring 1016 biases the minute tone arm so that its camfollower 104 is constantly engaged with the cam 102. This causespositioning of the minute needle 36 over a particular record groovedefined by the minute cam.

The minute cam 102 has twelve face portions corresponding to twelvefive-minute intervals in each hour. When the time setting knob 20 hasbeen turned so the minute hand 18 points to five minutes after the hour,the cam portion C5 engages the minute cam follower 104. This causes theminute needle 316 to be positioned over groove G5. If the clock is thenstarted, the minute saying will state it is live minutes after the hour.

A child may sometimes set the minute hand inbetween the five-minuteintervals, which might cause confusion. To prevent such a setting, anindex wheel 108 is fixed to the shaft 100, the wheel having twelvedepressed areas separated by raised areas. An indexing lever 110 bearsagainst the wheel and tends to rotate the wheel so that it lies in adepressed area. When the indexing lever 110 is within a depressed area,the minute hand points precisely to one of the twelve five-minute clockpositions which are indicated at the outer ring area 26 of the clockface. As the knob 20 and minute hand 18 are rotated, the clock hour hand16 must be slowly advanced to change the hour setting. A gear 'wheel 112is fixed to the shaft 100 to rotate with it. The gear Wheel 112 has fourpairs of teeth 114 spaced around its periphery. These teeth can engage atransfer pinion 1116 that is rotatably mounted on the clock housing.Every time the minute hand 18 rotates a quarter-turn, another pair ofteeth '114 on the gear wheel passes by the pinion 116 to rotate thepinion by two teeth. As shown in FIG. 4, the pinion 116 is engaged witha spur gear 118 that is pivotally mounted around the shaft 100. An hourcan is `fixed to the spur gear 118 to rotate with it.

As in the case of the minute cam, the hour cam 120 has twelve campor-tions H1 through H12 which engage an hour tone arm cam follower 122which is mounted on the hour tone arm 42. A spring 124 urges the hourtone arm cam follower 122- against the hour cam. This causes the hourneedle 44 to Ibe engaged with one of `the hour grooves R1 through R12 onthe record. The spur gear 118 is also fixed to the hour clock hand 16 tomove it.

The spur gear `118 has 96 teeth. Thus, at every quarter revolution ofthe minute hand, 'when the pinion 116 is advanced by two teeth and itadvances the spur gear 118 by two teeth, :the spur gear and the hourhand fixed thereto are advanced by 1/48 of a revolution. This causes thehour hand to advance by one-fourth of an hour every time the minute handadvances by fifteen minutes. Accordingly, the hour hand is always at aposition on or between the hour numerals, which corresponds closely tothe positions taken by the hour hand of an ordinary clock.

Thus, the talking clock of the invention can be easily set to theclosest five-minute interval of any clock reading, by merely turning asingle knob 20, and it can be made to play a voice message telling thetime to which it is set `by merely moving a start knob 22. This enablesa child to learn to tell time without consta-nt adult instruction, andenables him to derive enjoyment out of constantly testing and confirminghis ability to tell time. While the talking clock generally does notcontain a timepiece mechanism which would move the hands to indicate theactual time, such a mechanism could be included.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described andillustrated herein, it is recognized that modifications and Variationsmay readily occur -to those skilled in the art, and consequently, it isintended that the claims be interpreted to cover such modifications andequivalents.

What is claimed is:

1. A talking-teaching clock comprising:

a housing;

means defining a simulated clock face mounted on said housing;

hour and minute hands rotatably mounted on said housing to indicate thehour and minute;

knob means mounted on said housing and connected to said minute hand forenabling turning of said minute hand;

gear means coupled to said minute hand to turn said hour hand inaccordance with rotation of said minute hand;

record means movably mounted in said housing and including a pluralityof hour tracks and a plurality of minute tracks having voice recordingsstating the hour and minute, respectively;

separate hour and minute tone arms for engaging said hour and minutetracks, respectively;

means swingably mounting each of said tone arms in said housing;

a speaker engageable by each of said tone arms for mechanicallyproducing audible sounds vdefined by the tracks engaged by said tonearms;

hourv and minute cams coupled to said hour and minute hands,respectively;

hour and minute cam follower means carried by said hour and minute tonearms, respectively, for selecting one of said hour tracks and one ofsaid minute tracks to be engaged by said tone arms; l

spring means connected to said tone arms for swinging said tone arms topositions where said cam follower means engages an associated one ofsaid cams; and

lift arm means mounted in said housing for separating said tone arms andsaid speakers, whereby said tone arms are free to be swung to saidpositions by said spring means.

2. The talking-teaching clock described in claim 1 wherein:

said plurality of minute tracks comprise less than sixty tracks, toindicate only times spaced by a plurality of minutes; and includingindexing means for automatically aligning said minute hand with apredetermined one of said times spaced by a plurality of minutes, aftersaid minute hand has been manually moved to a position adjacent saidpredetermined one of said times.

3. The talking-teaching clock described in claim 1 wherein:

said tracks ext/end along substantially concentric circles spacedsubstantially radially from each other on said turntable; and including;

an electric motor for moving saidrecord means;

manually operable switch means for commencing the operation of saidmotor; and

means for terminating the operation of said motor upon the completion ofone revolution of said lturntable.

4. An educational toy for teaching the time of day,

comprising:

a housing;

means defining a simulated clock face mounted on said housing;

hours and minute hands mounted on said housing to permit movement withrespect to said simulated clock face to visually indicate different timesettings;

record means including a plurality of hour-defining sound tracks and aplurality of minute-defining sound tracks, said record means comprisinga turntable having a record with a plurality of radially spacedsubstantially circular grooves;

playback means for engaging particular hour-dening and minute-detiningsound tracks in accordance with the positions of said hour and minutehands, respectively, to reproduce the sounds defined by said tracks,said playback means comprising separate hour and minute tone arm meanseach swingably mounted in said housing for engaging said hour-dening andminute-defining sound trac-ks, respectively, hour and minute cam meanscoupled to said hour and 'minute hands, respectively, a cam followercarried by each tone 'arm means and engageable with an associated one ofsaid cam means for positioning each of said tone arm means to engage oneof said grooves in accordance with the positions of said hands withrespect to said clock face, and a spring connected to each of said tonearm means for normally biasing said tone arm means into engagement withsaid cam means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM H. GRIEB, PrimaryExaminer U.S. Cl. XJR.

